As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, I’m so happy that I finally finished my master’s! And I’ll be returning to blogging much more regularly now. So to celebrate all that, I thought I’d do a little giveaway!

I’ve got a copy of The Hunger Games for one lucky reader. I picked up this book when I heard it was being turned into a movie, and I devoured it in one go. It really was one of those books I just couldn’t put down. It’s set in a sort of post-apocalyptic world, where each year the Hunger Games are held: a broadcasted fight-to-the-death between 20 kids from 10 districts. Think Battle Royale meets Big Brother.

To enter this competition, all you need to do is leave a comment behind answering “which posts would you like to see more of on MissGeeky?” I’d love to hear what posts you like best and you’d like me to focus on in the upcoming weeks. Feel free to also suggest stuff I might not have written about before, as long as it’s geeky!

You’ll also get a second entry if you’re following me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with the hashtag #missgeeky. The competition ends on October 5th 15:00 after which I’ll randomly draw a winner.

Thanks to everyone that entered my birthday giveaways! I got a lot of interesting comments, but alas there can only be one winner. Well, 2 winners in this case, cause there were 2 giveaways.

So, drumroll please…

*drumroll*

The winner of a copy of Feed from Mira Grant is: Sally! With her comment:

Ooh, that looks like an awesome book. Shall have to add it to The List.

My favourite book fluctuates regularly – I read so much and love too many. I’ve just finished the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, which were an ace christmas present. If I had to pick one book that I’ve read that I particularly wouldn’t want to have not read, it would be The Hobbit. That’s a weird way of explaining it, but my favourite books are usually measured by the shelf rather than individuals 😉

And the winner of the limited edition knomo laptop bag is: Valentina! With her comment:

My favourite one was about the video games consoles shaped buildings. Made me laugh a lot!

Hope you both enjoy your prizes!

Even though my day isn’t going completely as planned, there are some things happening today that are quite awesome. The lovely folks at knomo have given me one of their laptop bags to give away to a lucky reader! And it’s a limited edition colour: Raspberry.

Pretty, right? The colour isn’t even available anymore in stores, so it really is a special sleeve! It’s for a 15″ laptop (37x27x4 cm or 14.6×10.6×1.6 in) and comes with a detachable strap. I reviewed this bag some months ago (read here): it’s somewhere halfway between a sleeve and a real laptop bag. There’s a main compartment for your laptop and a side pocket for your cables, adapter and other stuff.

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment behind with what you favourite post of mine has been. You’ll also get a second entry if you’re following me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with the hashtag #missgeeky. The competition ends on March 1st 15:00 after which I’ll randomly draw a winner!

One more day to my birthday! As part of my birthday week giveaway, the organisers of the London Funding Conference have extended an invitation to all my readers to attend the conference on March 9th at the British Library Conference centre with a £25 discount! (Just use the discount code: “MGGuest”)

Next to that, they have given me one ticket to give away! All you have to do to enter this competition is to leave a comment behind with the reason why you’d like to attend this conference. The competition closes this Friday at 13:00 and the winner will receive a free pass to the conference. Here are some details about the conference:

The London Funding Conference is the UK’s premiere event for businesses looking for growth capital. Attending the Conference significantly improves prospects for businesses seeking investment and in particular helps delegates:

• Understand the different types of growth capital and how to secure the best one for them
• Meet funding experts and businesses that have recently raised investment
• Talk to potential investors
• Meet other exciting growth businesses

Confirmed speakers include Luke Johnson (celebrated entrepreneur and founder of Risk Capital Partners), Michael Blakey (canny angel investor and founder of Avonmore Developments) and Mark Prisk MP (Minister for Business Innovation and Skills).

The conference will feature hands-on funding support during the day and separately, high level funding strategy presentations during the evening. See the agenda or Book now!

There’s also a chance for you to get your hands on more free stuff: if you fill in their National Entrepreneurship Survey, you can win an iPod Nano (or £160 in cash). I stil have to see if I can make it to the conference, but if you’re interested, leave a comment behind and let me know!

Yesterday was my 4 year blog birthday! I somehow always manage to forget that, but every year I want to do something to make it a little special. Technically it’s not MissGeeky.com’s birthday, but it’s the day I started blogging (and all the posts from that original blogged were moved to MissGeeky when I started that). Plus it’s my actual birthday next week Tuesday, and my cats’ birthday on Sunday, so it’s pretty much a special birthday week for me anyway.

To celebrate this birthday week, I’ll be doing a couple of giveaways! The first is your chance to win Feed by Mira Grant. This was my favourite book from last year, so I think whoever wins this will enjoy it:

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment behind here with your favourite book. The giveaway ends on Monday the 28th 17:00, and I’ll randomly draw a winner then. This is open to anyone, so even if you’re based in the US, Australia or wherever feel free to enter!

Thanks to all my regular readers and commenters for sticking with me for 4 years! I can’t believe I’ve been writing here for so long, and it’s been amazing. I never expected my blog to lead to so many awesome experiences. On to the next 4 years!

I’m not in a great Christmassy mood right now; my 6am flight this morning was cancelled (which I found out at 3am, half an hour before we had to actually leave the house), I’ve still got a horrible cold, and I’m running way behind on blogposts. Still, no need for everyone to feel glum, so I’ve got a cool giveaway for you guys!

I’ve got an awesome Space Paranoids pin from Tron to giveaway! Just leave a comment behind about your favourite moment in Tron (original or sequel, doesn’t matter). You’ve got until Christmas to enter. Btw, if you re-tweet you get an extra entry!

I’ll be doing a couple more giveaways the next couple of days, so stick around (or subscribe to the feed or email updates).

I’ve always liked the idea of movies and comics telling different parts of the same story, but I can’t think of many that have pulled it off properly (the one that comes to mind that didn’t work was Southland Tales. That movie doesn’t make sense at all, but apparently you have to have read the prequel comic before it…).

With Star Trek we first got the sort of prequel comic that explained the events before the movie (but still set in the future). It worked out great, giving a more detailed backstory for the fans who wanted to hear more about it, without it being a prerequisite for the movie. Now a new graphic novel is being released titled Star Trek: Nero following the character of Nero and his crew in the time between the destruction of the USS Kelvin and the reappearance of the Narada in the new timeline (so pretty early on in the movie).

Thanks to the wonderful guys at Titan, I’ve gotten a couple of copies to give away to my dear readers! To enter fill in the form below with your details and answer the question “What is your favourite Star Trek show or movie?” (Don’t forget to hit the Submit button!) Sorry to disappoint my international readers, but this competition is UK only. Entries must be in before Tuesday March 30th 16:00.

I’ve never really watched the original (never had the patience for it), but have seen most of everything else. My favourite was Deep Space 9, despite never watching it completely, cause the Dutch channel it was on messed up the programming (showing episodes in the wrong order, going on breaks and then starting up again without any announcements, causing me to miss episodes… and no internet to find out what I was missing). I always thought I’d watch it properly once I had the time, but still haven’t got around to that. Birthday present idea for next year perhaps?

As I mentioned last week, the famous tennis star Jacques d’Azur went missing a couple of weeks ago. He was flying to his Tahiti home, where he set sail on his yacht ‘Bridgette et Anna’. The last reported radio contact from him was the message, but no further contact was made with him since. After an extensive search with no result, the mystery man of Cannes is now presumed dead.

His last will and testament included an heir to his lavish weekend at the Cannes Film Festival, but the name of the rightful heir on the will is illegible. Now an extensive search is under way to find the rightful heir to take Jacques’ place at this year’s Festival.

It could be anyone! Even you! Check out the details of the search to find out more information.

This blog post is sponsored by Stella Artois 4%.

I should have done this last week, but because of my arm, I’m really running way behind with my blog posts. It’s already feeling better though, so staying completely away from my laptop is doing the trick.

This post is kind of a round-up of the contests I’ve held during the holidays, finally announcing all the winners. Thanks to everyone who entered, I loved reading all the comments that you entered. For each of the contests I did a random draw, picking 1 person to win.

So to start things off, the winner of the Moon DVD is:

saamFG!

With the comment:

Moon’ was pretty great, an interesting exploration into humanity and identity, emphasised by a fantastic score by Clint Mansell and compelling performance from Sam Rockwell. And Gerty. I love Gerty.

In terms of fave sci-fi films, I’d have to echo ‘Sunshine’ and also ‘Gattaca’, ‘Twelve Monkeys’ and ‘The Matrix’. But I think one film that’s stayed with me even more than those is ‘The Prestige’. Although I’ll probably change my mind tomorrow!

Labelling ‘The Prestige’ as sci-fi does give away the game a bit but that’s not such a big deal in the context of the ending. Certainly a film that deserves repeated viewings. Great little cameo from David Bowie, brilliant central performances from all the lead actors and Christopher Nolan does his usual, impeccable work in the director’s seat.

The winner of the World of Warcraft books is:

Sporky!

With the comment:

Awesome giveaway! I’ve been into gaming ever since I could hold an SNES controller. My parents thought I was too distracted from studying playing with the playstation and soon the ps2. And they were right! Since I’m in an art school now, I’ve been viewing videogames as a modern art form. It’s a good excuse to play good games so I can study and know what makes them good.

And finally the winner of the Lush goodies is:

Cecilie Harris!

With the comment:

It always smells very good when I walk into a lush shop, and there are so many things I haven’t tried yet. I love the smell of xmas (yes I know it’s over, but still), so anything with spice and cinnamon. Also love the smell of vanilla.

Congratulations, you three! Thanks to everyone else that entered, keep an eye on the blog cause ‘m sure to do more giveaways in the future.

My discovery of 2009 was Lush and their wonderful products. I’m so addicted to their stuff now! So I’ve decided to give a couple of their products away to one reader!

Now I know not everyone likes the same stuff, so my question to you dear readers is: What type of scents do you like? I love honey, jasmine and strawberries, so Lush products like Flying Fox and American Cream are my faves. To enter leave a comment behind with your favourites scents, and I’ll try to put a nice sample of Lush products together for the winner based on what you like. Also let me know if you have a bath or not! You’ve got until January 1st 18:00 to enter. Btw, if you re-tweet you get an extra entry!

Anybody is free to enter, but there shouldn’t be any weird delivery costs or restrictions (like I have to be able to ship liquids etc to your country).